The INDEPENDENT, December 13, 2007
Page 3
Letters
Toy & Joy efforts aid
many local families
To the Editor:
To the Community: I am writ-
ing this to thank you for your
generous contributions to the
Vernonia RFPD Toy and Joy.
Because of your donations last
year we were able to help 135
children and 45 families. We
purchased care packages con-
taining basic personal care
products for the adults and chil-
dren. Through your donations
we were able to bring some joy
to these families’ holidays. I
would like to thank you again
for your selfless donations that
help support our Toy and Joy
program.
It is that time of year again
and we would like to let you
know the locations of the toy
drop barrels that we have place
in town. There are four barrels
altogether this year. They are
located at Bridge Street Mini
Mart, Sentry, City Hall, and
Wauna Federal Credit Union.
All donated toys must be new
and un-wrapped. With your
help our Toy and Joy program
will continue to be a success.
If you are a family in need of
assistance, applications can be
picked up at Vernonia Cares,
Vernonia Headstart, and the
Vernonia Fire Station. The
deadline for application drop-
offs is December 15.
Sincerely,
Daniel Owens
Volunteer Fire Fighter
Toy and Joy President
Old quilt pattern used
for Sr. Center benefit
To the Editor:
We, the four quilters of the
Vernonia Senior Center would
like to thank everyone for the
help and encouragement for
our successful Quilt Raffle. We
made our goal of $1,016 and
went over. All money, $1,085,
went to the Senior Center. All
materials were donated.
About the quilt: In Septem-
ber 2005, hand-pieced medal-
lions were received from the
George Smith family (waiting
for someone to finish). Re-
search was done by Susan
Goodhope (our reliable histori-
an) for the period and pattern ti-
tle. The pattern for the quilt is
“Rising Sun” from a book by
Barbara Brackman, who is an
authentic source of old quilts.
Searched for fabrics to put to-
gether to match as close as
possible. Appliqued medallions
with blanket stitching. Was put
into frame and ready to quilt
March 2006. Nine months to
quilt. Out of frame and bound.
Put on display January 2007.
Made our tickets and ready to
sell. Drawing was November
14, 2007, at Vernonia Senior
Center’s Thanksgiving dinner.
Won by: Anne Cameron of Mc-
Cleary, Washington.
Don’t let the art of quilting
and fine quilts go astray. Quilt-
ing is much like the old quilting
bees. Time to enjoy friendships
and pleasures while we work.
We invite interested persons to
come. Tuesday’s 10:00 - 2:00.
Enjoy lunch. We try to also help
with questions about quilts.
Maybe one can be salvaged.
Heirlooms. Show us what you
have. We love to see and talk
about them.
See you!
Susan Goodhope
Louise Hamnett
Faith Reynolds
Fran Hendrix
Vernonia
Family is thankful
for concern and help
To the Editor:
On Tuesday, November 13,
our family’s home burnt down
due to our refrigerator. Fortu-
nately, we were all safe and we
were insured. We wanted to
make sure we thanked every-
one for their kindness and
prayers.
There are many people to
thank from beginning to end, so
I will do my best to remember
everyone. Thanks to Lisa Orth,
Susan Murphy, and others of
the Red Cross for being there
when we needed you to be;
Ike Says
From page 2
side of the road from where the
rancher said the buck was last
seen, and there he was, stand-
ing there. Dad made two good
shots and soon the buck, a nice
3pt. was headed back to camp.
You just never know where
those bucks will pop up! The
season was starting to wind
down for us and Michael was
starting to get that sinking feel-
ing of getting skunked. He had
taken a shot at a forked horn
and missed. Then the wind
picked up for a day-and-a-half
and he couldn’t hunt where he
wanted to, due to falling snags.
Finally, on the last day before
we were heading home he took
off up the hill into our favorite
hunt area. The rest of us took
a drive, checking out what few
camps were left in our area.
When we got back towards
camp we caught the faint
sounds of Mike’s voice on the
radio. It seems he had a little
buck down. With us breaking
camp in the morning, I made
the quick decision to grab the
pack boards and head up the
hill. It was going to be close to
dark when I got to Mike, but I
made it in time, so we didn’t
have to use lights to cut the
buck up for the pack. Coming
out in the dark was another sto-
ry, but being really familiar with
the ground, we navigated back
to camp just in time to finish
what was left of dinner. It was
a good year for us, but many
camps did not fair so well, I
guess it just pays to be lucky.
Merry Christmas to all and
happy New Year.
Izaak Walton League,
Nehalem Valley Chapter
meets monthly on the 3rd
Thursday at 7:00 p.m. Call
503-428-7193 for location.
Nathan Riley for saving all our
surrounding property and re-
moving the propane tanks, your
quick action and response did
not go unnoticed. The VRFPD,
for doing all they could and to
Dean Smith and Wayne
Vaughn for taking us through
the house and looking out for
our safety. Paul Epler for his
continued work and involve-
ment in helping us to get things
going and meeting with our in-
surance. The Vernonia Inn for
making our stay comfortable
and Anne Kingsley and WGS
for getting our boys needed
supplies and backpacks. Janet
Conger, for all her help and
care of our pets and property
while we’re not around. Other
neighbors of ours for their help
and support, the people of
Washington
County
who
helped and supported my sis-
ter, Leisa Rosas in Forest
Grove, while caring for my chil-
dren while we go through this
transition. We also wish to
thank the Vernonia Police De-
partment for their extra patrols
and assistance in safeguarding
our property.
A special thanks to Farmer’s
Insurance of Oregon, Mike
Hundley’s office in Forest
Grove, their adjustor Scott Van-
ice who has been great in the
handling of our claim and help-
ing us move past this, and to Al-
liance Restoration for all your
help in restoring my grandfa-
ther’s things, and to Jeff
Graves and Brian Prisel –
Thank you, thank you. And,
above all, thanks to The Inde-
pendent for their photos and
helping me to get this letter
published.
We would also like to thank
the people who set up a dona-
tion fund for us at Wauna. How-
ever, we are in the process of
turning those funds over to the
VRFPD to assist future fire vic-
tims. We encourage all to con-
tribute to that if you wish to
help.
Again, thanks to everyone
and to my friends and family
who have never deserted me
when I need them most. Thank
you.
Darryl and Theresa
Norton and Family
More letters on page 4
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Thank You…
Thank you to Robert Ray
and Josh Schultz for taking
their own boats and equipment
out and rescuing people.
Dean Smith
Thank you to R&R Automo-
tive for allowing Dean Smith so
much time off.
Paul Epler
Vernonia Fire Chief
Thank you Sabrena, Jerry,
Grace and John from Vancou-
ver who moved furniture, plus
the crew of volunteers who
came Saturday to help pull car-
pet, and the crew that showed
up this Wednesday to pull insu-
lation and clean cupboards
(whose names I didn’t get).
Noni Andersen
Special thanks to Robert
Williams and Jay Silas for help-
ing muck out our office, for the
truck and for hauling away wet
stuff. Thanks to Sunny Kay and
Costco for generosity and sup-
port of the community. More
thanks go out to Dr. Ken Cox,
Vincent Stannick and Kennedy
Restoration. And, thanks to
Carol Davis and all the other
people who stopped by to see
how we were and offered to
help us clean up.
Clark and Rebecca
McGaugh
Want to thank someone for their help during
or after the flood? Submit your “Thanks”
to us and we’ll run them in the next issues.
Send them to The Independent, 725 Bridge Street,
Vernonia, OR 97064, or drop them in the mail slot
above the paper box out front, or email them to
rebecca@the-independent.net